The Medrano Kitchen – Mex Christmas Market

Meet The Medrano Kitchen  taking part at 2020’s Mexican Christmas Market.

Alexis: ‘

I am Mexican-American born in the heart of San Diego, just 15 mins from the border of Mexico. My family and I moved to the UK when I was 9 years old in 1998 (if you are trying to work out my age- DON’T). If you were around in 98, you are also very aware there was no “Authentic” Mexican food in London. Therefore to survive, my family and I would smuggle all the main essentials with us into the U.K (even if that meant bribing a few people at LAX with a tamale or two – Fun fact: they never said no) We would bring with us Corn Tortillas, grandma’s tamales and a hell of a lot of Beans! If you know me, you know I love all things Frijoles!

Struggling to speak Spanish or find authentic Mexican food in the UK, mi hermana y yo we would thrive to be to Chingonas (badass women) in the Kitchen instead. So we began learning and exploring recipes from our own mother, family members and friends during our summer visits back home to California. ‘

Tamales! My favourite thing about Christmas is when all the women gather together in the kitchen, not just to chit chat and catch up, but of course to make what feels like mountains and mountains of tamales! It’s tradition for all the women to form a working line, one person spreads the masa on the corn husk, another adds the filling, another finishes wrapping the tamale and then finally, the tamale gets added to the steamer pot where it then cooks for hours. Everyone is usually exhausted once it’s all completed but the conversations, drinks and life lessons from the aunties’ is irreplaceable.